Remember manners? It’s where we learned not to pick our nose in public. (Not sure if those sneaky picks in your own car at a stop light count.) Being rude was not a crowd pleaser. There were lots of unwritten rules that we all learned when we were very young. Leave the room to fart. Don’t say something mean about anyone’s mother. Polite behavior didn’t allow us to spit out food we didn’t care for and make retching noises.
Extremes are never helpful. From being corrected for having your elbow on the dining table, we have flipped all the way to the contentious shouting and talking over their guests by cable news anchors and their guests. I ran across the title of a book from the 1980’s about basic rules for getting along with others. I put it to the test to see if the talking heads on “news” programs learned these lessons in kindergarten.
An essay in All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum lists these:Play fair.
- Don’t hit people.
- CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
- Say you’re SORRY when you HURT somebody.
- Flush. (One can only hope.)
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. (Insert almond milk for vegans.)
Based on my personal assessment, these highly paid commentators will need to repeat kindergarten. Their anger and bias and lack of civility send me straight to the remote. Say what you like, but Andy of Mayberry is nothing if not polite. 
Too much shouting, hate and anger. I’m tired.
It is exhausting and feels endless.